Public decisions are subject to review/
The administrative Recourse Procedure
The Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus grants every person whose personal, present and lawful right is affected by any act or failure of the Public Administration of the Republic, the option to apply to the Supreme Court with an Administrative Recourse and request the annulment of this act or failure, should this person consider that this act or failure violates the Constitution or the Legislation. Such acts or failures of the Administrative Bodies of the Republic may be the appointment of someone in the public sector, the promotion of a public employee, the rejection of any type of permit and also a requisition or acquisition order of immovable property.
There are specific conditions that need to be fulfilled in order for someone to be eligible to apply to the Supreme Court with an Administrative Recourse in order to annul this act or failure.
First, the act or failure should be performed by an Administrative Body of the Republic and it should be within the duties of this body. Second, the Administrative Body's act or failure should be enforceable. This means that it should affect the legal rights of a person, either by creating, amending, or cancelling a right or an obligation of the person. Should both these conditions apply then one has the right to apply to the Supreme Court with an Administrative Recourse in order to annul this act or failure. There is also a strict time limit for applying to the Supreme Court, and that is within 75 days from the date of notification of the act to the person affected, and this deadline cannot be extended.
Apart from the violation of the Constitution and the Legislation in general, there are several other causes one might claim at the Supreme Court in order to request the annulment of an act or failure of an Administrative Body. First of all, every act of Public Administration of the Republic should be issued by the Administrative Body in charge to do so; therefore if the act was issued by an inappropriate Body, this is cause for annulment.
Also, the Supreme Court is most likely to annul an act of an Administrative Body if this act is not adequately and duly reasoned, especially when the act is unfavorable for the citizen. Moreover, a breach of the principles of equality and impartiality of the Public Administration is of course considered to be cause for annulment.
Furthermore, and this applies especially in cases where the Administrative Body issues a negative act for the citizen, the citizen is entitled to be heard prior to the issue of the act. If the Administrative Body violates this right, the citizen has just cause to request the annulment of the act.
The Administrative Body has also the duty to duly research all the facts of each case before the issue of an act, in order to be fully informed and aware of the circumstances. The citizen can apply for annulment of the act, in case the Administrative Body did not perform this research and was unaware of all the facts of the case.
It is worth mentioning at this point, that the Supreme Court may only annul or validate the Administrative Body's act or failure; the Supreme Court is not allowed under any circumstances to substitute the Administrative Body and issue a new act or even to amend the existing act.
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